Sudan: We Spent 1.2 Million Dollars To Evacuate Nigerians, FG Insists

Posted by Nwa Diokpa Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Sunday, April 30th, 2023

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Federal Government has opened up to controversy after it’s claimed to have spent 1.2 million dollars to evacuate Nigerians stranded in Sudan.

The African Examiner recalls that the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, had accused the Nigerian government of a ‘fake’ evacuation plan saying that some students paid some money to the bus drivers carrying Nigerians out of troubled Sudan.

Reacting, the government on Sunday explained that the sum allegedly spent in hiring buses for the evacuation of Nigerian students in Sudan was because of the serious need of the war situation.

Mrs Rhoda Iliya, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs explained this on Sunday.

According to Iliya, the 1.2 million dollars in question was negotiated in a condition of war and as there were competing demands for the same bus services by other countries also trying to evacuate their citizens.

The government enjoined Nigerians for their cooperation and understanding as the outcry concerning the negotiated sum of 1.2 million dollars was unnecessary.

The African Examiner writes that a total of six hundred and thirty-seven (637) evacuees had arrived at the identified safe borders at Aswan, Egypt and they will be evacuated to Nigeria after the necessary documentation and clearance.